Six people missing as a result of ammo explosions in Zabaikalye

MOSCOW, April 30 /ITAR-TASS/. Six people are reported missing as a result of ammunition explosions and an ensuing fire around the arsenal and the populated area of Bolshaya Tura, Zabaikalye (Trans-Baikal) Territory, an official at the RF Defence Ministry's press-service and information department said.

"Those missing include one officer, one contract serviceman, and four civilian members of the paramilitary guard service," the Ministry official specified.

Earlier the Defence Ministry reported that it was building up its team for fighting the fire in the emergency area. At present, additionally concentrated in the area are six fire-fighting railway trains, over 30 water transport trucks, eight low loaders, three refuelling trucks, ten Kamaz transport vehicles, and other special-purpose machinery. In all, about 60 military and special-purpose vehicles and more than 120 members of fire-fighting personnel are involved in fighting fire outside the arsenal territory.

The intensity of the spread of the fire has considerably decreased by now.

An official in the territorial Interior Ministry press service has specified that the danger of explosions in the emergency area is keeping on.

Inhabitants of the Bolshaya Tura and Kadakhta Villages had to abandon their homes owing to the dangerous proximity to the military depot blaze. The villagers have been accommodated at evacuation stations in neighbouring villages and at their relatives'.

The personnel of the Novinskoye police precinct have arranged four evacuation points: in a kindergarten and in the hospital of Makkaveyevo Village, and two at the Spasatel (rescuer) social rehabilitation center and in the barracks.

Law and order and safety in the area of the depot are being ensured by 95 policemen. "With a view to preventing thefts, the villages have been taken under an enhanced guarding by police. Sixteen traffic police crews are operating along the roads. Their task is to prevent strangers from getting into the danger zone", the Interior Ministry department official pointed out.

According to the latest but unconfirmed information circulated by the Territorial government, seven people died and the fate of another four is unknown. Seventeen people applied for medical aid.

Three railway trains have been delayed owing to the fire and ammunition explosions. According to the press service of the Zabaikalye Railway, another four passenger trains are expected to be delayed soon. Train traffic along the Chita-Karymskaya has been suspended.